Bear Trap
by PumpkinMush
Summary: A DavidGreenlee story. Greenlee, crushed at Ryan's fake death and betrayal, has decided to leave Pine Valley and start a new life. She and David both recall a conversation they had about the risks of love a few years earlier.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: All My Children and its' characters are owned by ABC and I'm messing with them for fun, not profit._

_"BearTrap"takes place on the show a few months from now, but is based on the scene from the show which aired December 2003, when David and Greenlee were talking about loving again after loss, as they sat together at Miller's Falls. I feel the writers missed the boat by not pairing David and Greenlee. They set it up, but did not follow up. Such chem, so wasted! But in the world of fanfic... we can follow up. This story starts in Fall 2005, and Greenlee has decided that she is too broken after learning of Ryan's betrayal. She is leaving Pine Valley to start a new life. The flashbacks are to the show in late 2003._

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"Flight 73 boarding at Gate 8."

Greenlee sat, ignoring the call. She was tired. Too tired to get up and walk to the gate. She shut her eyes and sighed. At least she was alone.

Not that she wasn't alone even when others were around. She couldn't even feel her own soul anymore. Alone. Empty. Betrayed.

But the one thing worse than being alone when you felt so empty, was having well meaning friends and family batting at you when you felt empty. Pawing with well meaning hugs. It was torture.

She'd told them she was going. Colorado. New Life. New place. No, she'd not give out the address till she was there. She needed down time. She needed to be alone. Away from all the mournful looks and well meaning hugs, full of "I-told-you-sos". All from people who would NOT back down. Ever. She couldn't breathe. She felt dead.

She giggled suddenly at the thought of not breathing because she was dead. People began to stare as her laughter grew. She snapped up her bags and stood.

"Don't mind the crazy lady!" she called to them. "She's leaving!"

She wiped a tear and giggled more as she walked.

Maybe she could breathe, just a little.

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David swirled the scotch in his glass, and took another gulp. He leaned against the door frame, and took a breath of the night air.

_"Isn't that kind of chicken?" She'd said. He held her hand, heard the drumming of the waterfall and of his heart, felt her close to him, looking at him, looking through him. He snorted a laugh._

_"Oh, please." he said. "You want the "love heals all things" speech, go to Myrtle. I'm sure she'll be happy to serve you up a plate of that." _

_"With tea and cookies and a shot of brandy on the side." said Greenlee merrily, not giving in to his mood. _

_He felt more cheerful despite his attempt to stoke the scorn. "Yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. I've had my fill, and I'm sure as hell not going back for seconds."_

_He looked at her again. No. He would not go back. She'd just leave. They always did._

He returned to the cabin and refilled his glass. She was leaving. She'd told him earlier that day. A flight out tomorrow morning, to Colorado. Away from everyone. She needed to be alone.

He understood. When you are hurt, you want to crawl someplace dark and quiet to lick your wounds.

_"You get your leg caught in a bear trap and it gets cut off, what do you do? Do you take your other good leg and put it in that same trap? No. You cut your losses and you crawl away." _

She didn't want a scene. She wanted to be alone tonight. And to leave quietly tomorrow. David snorted a scornful laugh and took another drink.. Like those vultures who pretended to care for her would let her. Their constant poking and prodding and forcing their solutions on her hadn't helped her at all... and Lavery... at least Greenlee had let him have it when he'd come crawling back. He begged, he pleaded, he whined like the sick dog he was. Greenlee didn't buy. Finally she saw him for what he was.

David looked unseeing at the again empty glass. His rage at Lavery dissipated, replaced for the moment by a sorrowful understanding of Greenlee's shattered illusion. She'd never seen Ryan as he and even Jackson had, not until that horrible return. She's mourned Leo, and out of that sorrow and desperation she'd denied she had, she'd built up an illusion. An illusion of a happy family, a perfect mate, a child to share. Only to have it suddenly and totally destroyed.

That he understood.

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Why she sat down again in the boarding area she wasn't sure. She could have boarded. It was only first call, though. She had time.

She'd told everyone she was leaving tomorrow, to mislead them. She knew, despite her saying she didn't want more good byes, they'd all show up at the airport to make a scene. She didn't want to even phone to leave a message once she'd gone, telling them... she didn't want to hear the voices.

_"But is that really living? Does it honor what we've had and what we've lost to resign from the world like that?"_ Her own voice, from the past, mocked her.

She'd arranged for a note to be dropped off with Jack and Erica, Simone, and David late that night. After she'd gone. Telling them she left early. They would not understand. Well... David would. He'd understand.

"_You get your leg caught in a bear trap and it gets cut off, what do you do? Do you take your other good leg and put it in that same trap? No. You cut your losses and you crawl away."_

He'd been right. It was time to crawl away. She felt the sadness and loss which had been momentarily banished by her odd fit of giggles, seep back into her heart. It felt different now, though how she couldn't tell.

She thought back to those eyes... reading her. Understanding. She'd thought for a moment she'd sensed something different in them that night, as the waterfall pounded in the background. She thought for just a moment, it was different. The eyes cut through her, read her... she more than half expected him to lean forward and kiss her.

_"Oh, so that's your sign that it's ok to defy logic and reason and fall in love again?" _

_"Maybe it is," _she'd challenged him._ " I mean, isn't that what we're supposed to learn, to let go of fear?" _

And the look... just for a moment. But she'd read him wrong. He looked away. Shut her out.

_"Maybe the lesson is to avoid fear altogether by not loving at all"._

Only one person would understand her cutting out early, alone. And it was the one person she'd not have minded showing up.

----- to be continued---


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry- this installment is short! I'm more likely to get em posted if I post shorter bits each time! Keep the reviews coming, thanks! They help! - Pumpkin_

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David sat heavily in his Adirondack chair, sipping another scotch, and glanced through the mail he'd only just taken out of his box. Time to move his mind to other things... a bill... magazine of the American Chemical Society... fundraising letter for heart research... and... He sat up surprised. Greenlee's handwriting... no stamp. This was dropped in his box, and not by the mailman.

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Second call for flight 73. Greenlee sat. The notes to Jack, Erica, and Simone just said she was already gone, sorry, but she didn't want long goodbyes. No more information. Why had she put more information in the note to David? She pursed her lips and looked back to where happier groups of people were hugging loved ones and smiling as they moved to board. She turned away and squared her shoulders. She was done with hugs and good byes. Better to avoid pain by not loving at all.

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He looked again at the note. She wasn't leaving tomorrow... she had left tonight ...Flight 73 to Aspen. He glanced at his watch..._ would_ be leaving tonight, 8:30 pm, he corrected himself. . The flight hadn't left yet. He went to the door again, and reread the note. She did this because she wanted to leave without fuss... without a scene...

_"Isn't that kind of chicken?"_

He could hear in the distance, the faint hum of the falls.

He had fought himself, back then, when he answered her.

_"Oh, so that's your sign that it's ok to defy logic and reason and fall in love again?" _

He'd done it. He'd defied all that logic and reason he professed to hang on to, and fallen. He knew it as he looked into her eyes at the waterfall, as she challenged him with her "_chicken_?". But he'd decided at that moment, the moment he almost decided differently, that he would not go back into that beartrap. He'd almost kissed her. He'd will himself not to. He wouldn't risk it.

And then she'd run to Ryan. And despite denying his feelings- telling himself he would not love, he would not feel- he'd felt the punch in the gut when he heard she'd married the sonuvabitch. He still didn't tell her. He couldn't.

_"Isn't that kind of chicken?"_

And she was gone. He crumpled the note in his hand.

And called a cab.

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End file.
